Arthur Currie
Encyclopedia
Sir Arthur William Currie GCMG, KCB
(5 December 1875 – 30 November 1933), was a Canadian general
during World War I
. He had the unique distinction of starting his military career on the very bottom rung as a pre-war militia
gunner before rising through the ranks to become the first Canadian commander of the four divisions of the unified Canadian Corps
of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
. He was the first Canadian to attain the rank of full general. Currie's success was based on his ability to rapidly adapt brigade
tactics to the exigencies of trench warfare
, using set-piece operations and "bite-and-hold" tactics. He is generally considered to be among the most capable commanders of the Western Front
, and one of the finest commanders in Canadian military history.
Currie was not afraid to voice his disagreement with orders or to suggest strategic
changes to a plan of attack, something that his British Army superiors were unused to hearing from a former militia officer from the colonies. Often these disagreements were taken all the way up to Sir Douglas Haig
. Haig sometimes sided with Currie—allowing a strategic change to the attack on Hill 70
outside Lens
, and approving Currie's audacious plan to cross the Canal du Nord—but he also, on occasion, overruled Currie, such as when Currie objected to the strategic value and expected casualties of the attack at Passchendaele. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
claimed to his biographer that had the war continued into 1919, he would have sought to replace General Douglas Haig with Arthur Currie, with Australian general John Monash
as Currie's chief of staff.
He was educated in local common schools and at the Strathroy District Collegiate Institute
, and briefly attended the University of Toronto
before moving to British Columbia
in 1894.
and Victoria
. It was during this period that he changed the spelling of his surname to "Currie".
On 6 May 1897, he joined the 5th Regiment, Canadian Garrison Artillery (C.G.A) as a gunner, and by 1900, he had achieved the rank of corporal. At this point, he was offered an officer's commission, which would give him a much higher status in the social circles of Victoria. However, a commission was an expensive proposition, since officers were expected to provide their own set of tailored uniforms and to donate their pay to the officer's mess
. In addition, Currie was engaged to be married to Lucy Chaworth-Musters. Clearly a teacher's meagre salary would not suffice, so he entered the lucrative and socially acceptable world of finance, eventually becoming provincial manager of the National Life Assurance Company.
The young businessman also took on his role as militia officer seriously, and showed an intense interest in artillery, and especially in marksmanship. He was promoted to captain in 1902, and then to major in 1906. He continued to be active in business and, with a land speculation boom in full swing, Currie and R. A. Power formed Currie & Power, and Currie invested heavily in the real estate market. By September 1909, he had risen to lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 5th Regiment C.G.A.
In 1913, while he was helping to raise a new militia regiment, the Victoria real estate boom went bust, leaving Currie holding worthless properties and financially over-extended. At the same time, he was offered command of the newly formed 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders of Canada) as lieutenant-colonel, and the cost of the new uniforms and mess bills only added to his financial problems. Facing personal bankruptcy and a disgraced retirement from the militia, Currie diverted government funds of $10,833.34 that had been earmarked for regimental uniforms into his personal accounts to pay off his debts. As historian Pierre Berton
noted, the Gordon Highlanders' honorary colonel, William Coy had promised to underwrite the regiment to the tune of $35,000, and Currie used the government money to save himself from bankruptcy on the understanding that Coy's money would be forthcoming almost immediately to cover it. Unfortunately for Currie, Coy did not follow through, leaving Currie's accounting sleight-of-hand potentially exposed.
In the midst of this, he attended the Militia Staff Course, and qualified in March 1914.
, the son of Sam Hughes
, the bombastic Canadian Minister of Militia
in Robert Borden
's government. Observing Garnet Hughes during militia exercises, Currie came to suspect that Hughes was incompetent and would prove to be unfit for a military command.
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Sam Hughes personally gave many plum commands in the 1st Division
of the nascent Canadian Expeditionary Force
to his cronies and acquaintances. Since Currie was his son's commanding officer, Hughes offered Currie command of the 2nd Brigade. However, Currie considered turning down the offer and staying behind in Victoria so he could attempt to solve his financial woes. He only changed his mind at the urging of Garnet Hughes. It is ironic that both Sam and Garnet Hughes were responsible for Currie's overseas command and subsequent success, since Currie and the Hughes would become implacable enemies by the end of the war. Currie's promotion to brigadier-general was confirmed on 29 September 1914.
Currie's financial predicament was brought to the attention of Prime Minister Borden as the 1st Division reached England, but unwilling to bring Currie home, Borden chose to do nothing about it for the time being.
on 17 April 1915. Only five days later, the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front
, sending clouds of chlorine wafting over the Allied trenches. French colonial troops on the Canadians' left flank broke, leaving a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long hole in the Allied line. In the chaos that followed, Currie proved his worth as a combat officer, coolly issuing commands from his brigade headquarters even as it was gassed and then destroyed by fire. Faced with a situation not covered by doctrinaire tactics, Currie threw away the tactical rule book and cobbled together a fluid defense and counterattack that bent but did not break. At one point, Currie personally went back to the rear and brought up two regiments of British reinforcements that had been unwilling to move forward. After several days of fierce fighting, Allied counterattacks re-established a stable defensive line, denying the Germans the breakthrough they had sought.
The Second Battle of Ypres proved to be the making of Currie. His superiors noted his natural instinct for tactics and his coolness under fire. He was promoted to major-general, and given command of the entire First Canadian Division. He was also invested as a Companion of the Order of Bath (CB) and as a commander of the Legion d'Honneur
.
Garnet Hughes, however, had proved to be unreliable under fire, confirming Currie's suspicions.
It was at this time that Currie lost favour with former friends Sam and Garnet Hughes. Sam Hughes wanted Garnet promoted to command of a division, but Currie, having seen Garnet in action at the Second Battle of Ypres, believed Garnet to be an incompetent officer, and refused. By this time, Currie's reputation was on the rise, and Hughes did not have the necessary leverage to force Currie to comply. From that point until his death in 1921, Hughes began a personal vendetta, using his seat in the House of Commons to verbally attack Currie and his record, although he was careful never to repeat his words outside the House, where he was not protected by parliamentary privilege
.
.
Near the French villages of Vimy
and Petit-Vimy, a high chalk ridge dominated the flat Douai Plain. When the war had bogged down in 1914, the Germans had driven the French from the ridge, and had strongly fortified it. Offensives by both the French and British had failed to dislodge the Germans from the high ground. Now as part of a major British operation in April designed to achieve a breakthrough at Arras, the Canadians were expected to do the impossible—take the ridge in just eight hours.
Both Byng and Currie were firm advocates of analysis and preparation. Byng first ordered Currie to examine the Battle of the Somme and advise what lessons could be taken and applied. Next, Byng sent Currie to Verdun to interview French officers about the grinding battle that had taken place there
. Currie not only questioned senior French officers, he then sought out junior officers and asked the same questions, carefully noting the discrepancies between the senior officers' beliefs and the junior officers' experiences. On 20 January 1917, Currie began a series of lectures to the generals of the Canadian Corps based on his research, and he set out what he believed would be the keys to the battle:
Training of the Canadian soldiers started immediately. As Currie had dictated, every soldier was shown maps of the battlefield, was told his platoon's objectives, and was given a small map of his part of the battlefield. Distances from Allied to German trenches were carefully taped out on practice battlefields, and the soldiers endlessly rehearsed the slow walk that would keep them only paces behind the creeping barrage.
Tunnels were dug into the soft chalk so that Canadian soldiers could move as close to the German lines as possible before the actual assault. In addition, ammonal
mines were set under German strongpoints. Canadian engineers laid 45 miles (72.4 km) of water pipes, 20 miles (32.2 km) of railway track, 3 miles (4.8 km) of plank road
, and they also maintained and repaired 25 miles (40.2 km) of local roads, which had been shelled heavily by the Germans during previous battles. In addition, the corps signallers buried 21 miles (33.8 km) of telephone cable and laid another 66 miles (106.2 km) of surface cable.
The counter-battery operations were going to be essential to the success of the attack. Currie and Byng had their eye upon the youngest brigade commander in France, 29-year-old Andy McNaughton. McNaughton was an unconventional soldier, raised in Canada's western frontier, and not afraid to apply new scientific methods to conventional knowledge about artillery. Placed in charge of counter-battery operations, McNaughton took the opportunity to try new techniques such as flash-spotting and sound-ranging. The results were unprecedented: Allied artillery destroyed 83% of the German guns before the battle started.
At 5:30 a.m. on 9 April (Easter Monday), the largest artillery barrage of the war to date began. Thirty thousand Canadian soldiers climbed out of trenches and tunnels in the middle of a snowstorm to slowly walk behind a curtain of artillery shells that destroyed everything in its path. German soldiers were captured while still in their bomb-proof dugouts. Primary, then secondary and tertiary trenches were rapidly taken. By 12:30 p.m., Canadian soldiers stood on top of Vimy Ridge. By the end of 12 April, the ridge was completely in Canadian hands, at a cost of 12,004 casualties, including 3978 killed.
Although the overall Battle of Arras
was a failure—British regiments on the Canadians' right flank failed to reach their objectives, making a breakthrough impossible—the four Canadian divisions had worked as one unit to score a nation-building victory. Currie was recognized as the architect of this triumph, and was knighted by King George V
with his appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the King's Birthday Honours of 4 June 1917. When Byng was promoted to general
in command of the British Third Army in mid-1917, Currie was raised to the temporary rank of lieutenant-general on 9 June, and given command of the entire Canadian Corps.
Just as he was taking command of the Corps, word reached Currie that news of his embezzlement had reached the Canadian cabinet, and in order to avoid news of the scandal from breaking, Currie borrowed money from two wealthy subordinates, David Watson
and Victor Odlum
, to finally pay back the money he had "borrowed" from the 50th Regiment.
Currie insisted on the same level of preparations as had been used at Vimy Ridge. Once again, the men studied maps of their objectives, and practiced on fields marked with tape that indicated trench lines, and a complex artillery barrage was planned. At 4:25 a.m. on 15 August 1917, after several hours of precise artillery fire to destroy barbed wire and plaster the German trenches, men of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions went over the top. (The 3rd Division was held in reserve.) Walking slowly behind a creeping barrage, the Canadians took the hill in a mere twenty minutes and immediately began to dig in. As Currie had predicted, the Germans realized that they could not remain in Lens with the Canadians occupying Hill 70, and the first counterattack took place by 9:00 a.m. Over the next three days, the Canadians repulsed 21 German counterattacks, which saw the Germans use both mustard gas and flamethrower
s. By 18 August, the Canadians were low on rations, water and ammunition, but the Germans, having suffered thousands of casualties trying to retake the hill, were unwilling to expend more resources. Although the city of Lens itself was not taken, German operations inside the city were compromised as Currie had predicted, and the city lost its strategic importance.
All autumn, unseasonably hard rains had fallen, turning the battlefield into a vast sea of liquid mud. Wooden duckboards
were the only way to traverse the ground, and soldiers who slipped off often drowned. The Germans were by that time using a more flexible defense, including dozens of pillboxes made of reinforced concrete that were set up to enfilade. Able to withstand direct hits from artillery and hard to pick out in the drab brown landscape of mud, these had to be found and attacked at close range by flamethrowers or Mills bomb
s. Attacking one pillbox inevitably drew deadly machine gun fire from two or three others. After examining the battlefield, Currie protested, saying that the village could only be taken at a cost of 16,000 Canadian casualties, and was not strategically significant. However, Haig overrode his objections and ordered an attack.
Currie insisted on time to prepare, and it was not until 20 October that the Canadian offensive began. Rather than one battle, Currie designed a series of well-prepared, sharp attacks that allowed the Corps to take an objective and then hold it against the inevitable German counterattacks. By 30 October, the Canadians, aided by two British divisions, gained the outskirts of the village in a driving rainstorm, and then held on for five days against intense shelling and counterattacks, often standing waist deep in mud as they fought.
The Germans withdrew from the battle on 11 November 1917, but Haig's breakthrough never materialized. The German doctrine of "defence in depth
" meant that there was always another set of trenches waiting for them to fall back to. The Canadians' Pyrrhic victory
came at the cost of 15,654 casualties, including 4,028 killed. Currie's grim prediction had been accurate.
, but by the summer, it had been contained, and it was the turn of the Allies to counterattack. German intelligence always kept a close watch on the whereabouts of the Canadian Corps since their move to a new sector usually indicated an imminent attack. Therefore, in August 1918, when Currie was ordered to move the Corps 70 miles (112.7 km) south to Amiens to join the Australians under General John Monash
, the Canadians took pains to camouflage their move. This included sending a radio unit and two battalions to Ypres as a diversion. With no preliminary artillery bombardment to warn the Germans, the attack on 8 August was a complete surprise. Currie's usual careful planning paid off as the Canadians and Australians opened up an enormous hole in the German lines and advanced 11 miles (17.7 km) on the first day, although suffering enormous casualties. After three days of continued Allied advances, the Germans abandoned their lines at Amiens and fell back to their prepared defences on the Hindenburg Line
.
The Canadians were withdrawn from the line, and moved to the Somme, where they next attacked the Hindenburg Line at the powerful Drocourt-Quéant Line on 2 September. The Corps smashed a hole in the "invulnerable" line, forcing the Germans to fall back behind the flooded Canal du Nord
.
Currie took three weeks to prepare for the next attack. In what was perhaps Currie's most audacious plan, he proposed to have the entire Corps cross a dry part of the canal using bridges that would have to be built by engineers while under fire. Currie's superiors refused to approve the plan, but finally Douglas Haig gave his assent. On 27 September, covered by the most massive artillery bombardment of the war, the entire Corps moved across the canal as planned, and then through the German lines in a series of planned zig-zag maneuvers designed to confuse the Germans as to the Canadians' objectives. The Canadians broke through three German lines and as a bonus, also took Bourlon Woods. Forced out of the Hindenburg Line, the German army now staged a controlled retreat.
Currie was next given the task of taking Cambrai
, which the Canadian Corps achieved on 11 October. Further action at Valenciennes
and Mont Houy denied the Germans any chance to dig in and reinforce their defences in the face of the determined Canadians.
On 10 November, in what was to be his most controversial decision, Currie, under orders to continue to advance, ordered elements of the Corps to liberate Mons
, although there were rumours that an armistice
would be signed the next day. On the morning of 11 November, as Currie received orders that confirmed there would be a general armistice at 11:00:00 a.m., the capture of Mons was completed. At 10:58 a.m., George Lawrence Price
was killed by sniper fire, the last Canadian, and possibly the last Allied soldier, to die in the Great War. Two minutes later, the war ended. The liberation of Mons on 10–11 November cost the Corps 280 casualties, although Price was the only Canadian to be killed on the last day of the war.
In later years, Currie defended his decision to attack Mons by pointing out that not only was he under orders to continue to advance, but that during the last two weeks of the war, rumours of an imminent armistice had proven to be false several times. In addition, even when the exact hour of the cease-fire was announced early on the morning of 11 November, the terms of the proposed armistice were unknown; many Allied commanders continued to press forward and German commanders continued to defend tenaciously because they believed that post-war boundaries would be drawn where the armies stood when the armistice was declared.
claimed that he wanted to promote Currie to commander-in-chief of all British and Empire forces on the Western Front in place of Sir Douglas Haig
. On other occasions, similar claims have been made about Currie's Australian counterpart, General John Monash
. However, this claim is not taken seriously by historians. For example, Robin Neillands praises Currie and Monash highly (subject to the caveat that they commanded nationally-homogenous forces, rather than having units constantly shuffled in and out throughout the war like other corps), but points out that each man had only commanded a handful of divisions. Neillands dismisses the claim as "a myth ... without foundation except in Lloyd George's memoirs".
, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1919 New Year Honours, and also received the French Légion d'honneur
and Croix de Guerre
(with Palm), the Belgian Croix de guerre and the Order of the Crown
, and the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal
.
Upon returning to Canada, Currie was promoted to general
, the first Canadian to hold that rank, and was made Inspector-General of the Canadian Army.
Although he only held a high school diploma, Currie was offered the position of Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill University
in Montreal, at the time the most prestigious university in Canada. He held this post with distinction from 1920 until his death in 1933.
Honorary degrees were conferred on Currie by many British and American universities, and he became a trustee of the Carnegie Foundation.
In June 1927, the city of Mons erected a plaque commemorating their liberation by the Canadian Corps; as this event was reported in Canadian newspapers, Currie's enemies took the opportunity to again question the final day of fighting. The Hughes-controlled Port Hope
Evening Guide, in a front-page editorial, wrote "It is doubtful whether in any case there was a more deliberate and useless waste of human life than in the so-called capture of Mons..." Currie sued the newspaper for libel, seeking $50,000 in damages. At the trial, Currie testified that he had been under orders from Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch
to pursue German forces; to do otherwise would have been treason. Many of Currie's senior officers testified that Currie urged them to advance with caution, avoiding unnecessary casualties. At the end of the trial, the jury returned a verdict after four hours, finding the newspaper guilty, and awarding Currie $500 in damages. One member of the jury, a former serviceman, dissented.
After the trial, Currie was invited to a dinner in Port Hope by some of the men who had served under him. With tears in his eyes, Currie read a telegram he had received the day before from the father of George Price: "As father of George Lawrence Price, the only Canadian killed on Armistice Day, I wish to convey to you, Sir, my humble hope that you will succeed in bringing to justice those responsible for bringing this case before the public, because all of this simply renews old wounds that are best forgotten."
wrote of his funeral: "It was, by common consent, the most impressive funeral ever seen at Montreal". Those attending included Lord Bessborough
, at the time the Governor-General of Canada; important politicians from both Ottawa
and Quebec
; foreign diplomats; and representatives of McGill University. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Montreal
, and other clergy including the former chaplain of the Canadian Corps. Eight general officers acted as pallbearers, and many other soldiers, both serving and veterans, were in attendance. The funeral procession received a 17-gun salute. Currie was interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery
in Montreal, Quebec.
Canadian historians, including Pierre Berton
and Jack Granatstein
, have described Currie as Canada's greatest military commander. Although physically a large man, standing over six feet tall, Currie did not cut a heroic military figure. Nor was he a charismatic speaker. Described as aloof by his troops, who called him "Guts and Gaiters," he nevertheless inspired them. He was a brilliant tactician who used his skills to reduce casualties and is credited with accelerating the end of the war. According to historian Jack Hyatt, "His slogan was, 'Pay the price of victory in shells—not lives,' and if he did anything heroic it was that."
Arthur Currie donated a statue and war memorial to the city of Saint-Lambert
, Quebec
.
's graduates, "no less than their military attainments, exercised a potent influence in fashioning a force which, in fighting efficiency, has never been excelled." Currie was a staunch believer in rigorous training as said in the following quote, "Thorough preparation must lead to success. Neglect nothing."
to write his own order to try and inspire the troops.
"To those who fall I say; you will not die but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate, but will be proud to have bourne such sons. Your names will be revered for ever and ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto himself. Canadians, in this fateful hour, I command you and I trust you to fight as you have ever fought with all your strength, with all your determination, with all your tranquil courage. On many a hard fought field of battle you have overcome this enemy. With God's help you shall achieve victory once more."
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(5 December 1875 – 30 November 1933), was a Canadian general
General (Canada)
The military rank of General in Canada is typically held by only one officer whose position is Chief of the Defence Staff and the senior uniformed officer of the Canadian Forces. The rank is referred to as 'four-star', despite the use of maple leaves in the insignia. It is the equivalent of the...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He had the unique distinction of starting his military career on the very bottom rung as a pre-war militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
gunner before rising through the ranks to become the first Canadian commander of the four divisions of the unified Canadian Corps
Canadian Corps
The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916...
of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Expeditionary Force
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...
. He was the first Canadian to attain the rank of full general. Currie's success was based on his ability to rapidly adapt brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
tactics to the exigencies of trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
, using set-piece operations and "bite-and-hold" tactics. He is generally considered to be among the most capable commanders of the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, and one of the finest commanders in Canadian military history.
Currie was not afraid to voice his disagreement with orders or to suggest strategic
Military strategy
Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops...
changes to a plan of attack, something that his British Army superiors were unused to hearing from a former militia officer from the colonies. Often these disagreements were taken all the way up to Sir Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
. Haig sometimes sided with Currie—allowing a strategic change to the attack on Hill 70
Battle of Hill 70
The Battle of Hill 70 was a localized battle of World War I between the Canadian Corps and five divisions of the German Sixth Army. The battle took place along the Western Front on the outskirts of Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France between 15 August 1917 and 25 August 1917.The primary...
outside Lens
Lens, Belgium
Lens is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. In 2007 its population was 4042. The total area is 49.42 km² which gives a population density of 80 inhabitants per km²....
, and approving Currie's audacious plan to cross the Canal du Nord—but he also, on occasion, overruled Currie, such as when Currie objected to the strategic value and expected casualties of the attack at Passchendaele. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
claimed to his biographer that had the war continued into 1919, he would have sought to replace General Douglas Haig with Arthur Currie, with Australian general John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
as Currie's chief of staff.
Early life
Arthur Curry (his surname at birth was spelled "Curry") was born in the hamlet of Napperton, Ontario, just west of Strathroy, the son of William Garner Curry and Jane Patterson. The family home still stands, although privately owned and in a poor state of repair.He was educated in local common schools and at the Strathroy District Collegiate Institute
Strathroy District Collegiate Institute
Strathroy District Collegiate Institute is one of two secondary schools in Strathroy, Ontario. It is a public high school in the Thames Valley District School Board. The school services feeder schools in the Strathroy area, as well as the outer regions such as Mt. Brydges, Parkhill, Kerwood,...
, and briefly attended the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
before moving to British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in 1894.
Businessman and gentleman soldier
For five years, he taught at public schools in SidneySidney, British Columbia
Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,300. Sidney is located just east of Victoria International Airport,...
and Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. It was during this period that he changed the spelling of his surname to "Currie".
On 6 May 1897, he joined the 5th Regiment, Canadian Garrison Artillery (C.G.A) as a gunner, and by 1900, he had achieved the rank of corporal. At this point, he was offered an officer's commission, which would give him a much higher status in the social circles of Victoria. However, a commission was an expensive proposition, since officers were expected to provide their own set of tailored uniforms and to donate their pay to the officer's mess
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
. In addition, Currie was engaged to be married to Lucy Chaworth-Musters. Clearly a teacher's meagre salary would not suffice, so he entered the lucrative and socially acceptable world of finance, eventually becoming provincial manager of the National Life Assurance Company.
The young businessman also took on his role as militia officer seriously, and showed an intense interest in artillery, and especially in marksmanship. He was promoted to captain in 1902, and then to major in 1906. He continued to be active in business and, with a land speculation boom in full swing, Currie and R. A. Power formed Currie & Power, and Currie invested heavily in the real estate market. By September 1909, he had risen to lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 5th Regiment C.G.A.
In 1913, while he was helping to raise a new militia regiment, the Victoria real estate boom went bust, leaving Currie holding worthless properties and financially over-extended. At the same time, he was offered command of the newly formed 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders of Canada) as lieutenant-colonel, and the cost of the new uniforms and mess bills only added to his financial problems. Facing personal bankruptcy and a disgraced retirement from the militia, Currie diverted government funds of $10,833.34 that had been earmarked for regimental uniforms into his personal accounts to pay off his debts. As historian Pierre Berton
Pierre Berton
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, was a noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist....
noted, the Gordon Highlanders' honorary colonel, William Coy had promised to underwrite the regiment to the tune of $35,000, and Currie used the government money to save himself from bankruptcy on the understanding that Coy's money would be forthcoming almost immediately to cover it. Unfortunately for Currie, Coy did not follow through, leaving Currie's accounting sleight-of-hand potentially exposed.
In the midst of this, he attended the Militia Staff Course, and qualified in March 1914.
World War I
Currie's third-in-command in the "Gay Gordons" was Garnet HughesGarnet Hughes
Major General Garnet Burk Hughes CB, DSO, was a Canadian military officer during the First World War. He was the son of Sir Sam Hughes, a Canadian politician and Minister of the Militia during the war...
, the son of Sam Hughes
Sam Hughes
For other people of the same name see Sam Hughes Sir Samuel Hughes, KCB, PC was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I...
, the bombastic Canadian Minister of Militia
Minister of Militia and Defence (Canada)
The Minister of Militia and Defence was the federal government minister in charge of the volunteer army units in Canada prior to the creation of the Canadian Militia, before the creation of the Canadian Army....
in Robert Borden
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...
's government. Observing Garnet Hughes during militia exercises, Currie came to suspect that Hughes was incompetent and would prove to be unfit for a military command.
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Sam Hughes personally gave many plum commands in the 1st Division
1st Canadian Division
Formed in August 1914, the 1st Canadian Division was a formation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The division was initially made up from provisional battalions that were named after their province of origin but these titles were dropped before the division arrived in Britain on October 14,...
of the nascent Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Expeditionary Force
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...
to his cronies and acquaintances. Since Currie was his son's commanding officer, Hughes offered Currie command of the 2nd Brigade. However, Currie considered turning down the offer and staying behind in Victoria so he could attempt to solve his financial woes. He only changed his mind at the urging of Garnet Hughes. It is ironic that both Sam and Garnet Hughes were responsible for Currie's overseas command and subsequent success, since Currie and the Hughes would become implacable enemies by the end of the war. Currie's promotion to brigadier-general was confirmed on 29 September 1914.
Currie's financial predicament was brought to the attention of Prime Minister Borden as the 1st Division reached England, but unwilling to bring Currie home, Borden chose to do nothing about it for the time being.
Second Battle of Ypres
The 1st Division spent the winter of 1914-15 training in England, and were sent to France in February 1915. After a period of indoctrination in the realities of trench warfare, they took control of a section of trench in the Ypres SalientYpres Salient
The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...
on 17 April 1915. Only five days later, the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
, sending clouds of chlorine wafting over the Allied trenches. French colonial troops on the Canadians' left flank broke, leaving a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long hole in the Allied line. In the chaos that followed, Currie proved his worth as a combat officer, coolly issuing commands from his brigade headquarters even as it was gassed and then destroyed by fire. Faced with a situation not covered by doctrinaire tactics, Currie threw away the tactical rule book and cobbled together a fluid defense and counterattack that bent but did not break. At one point, Currie personally went back to the rear and brought up two regiments of British reinforcements that had been unwilling to move forward. After several days of fierce fighting, Allied counterattacks re-established a stable defensive line, denying the Germans the breakthrough they had sought.
The Second Battle of Ypres proved to be the making of Currie. His superiors noted his natural instinct for tactics and his coolness under fire. He was promoted to major-general, and given command of the entire First Canadian Division. He was also invested as a Companion of the Order of Bath (CB) and as a commander of the Legion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Garnet Hughes, however, had proved to be unreliable under fire, confirming Currie's suspicions.
The Somme
Although the Canadians did not take part in the infamous Anglo-French offensive on the Somme on 1 July 1916, they did eventually move into the line in the fall to aid the slow crawl forward. Unlike some of his senior commanders, Currie was under no illusion that a full frontal assault would bring about a breakthrough that would end the stalemate of the trenches. Instead, Currie proved himself to be the master of the set-piece assault, designed to take limited objectives and then hold on in the face of inevitable German counterattacks. In a battle where every foot of ground was fiercely contested, Currie's talent at these bite and hold tactics became apparent as did his almost obsessive unwillingness to squander men's lives in costly frontal assaults. When the battle finally ground to a halt in the mud of November, the Canadians had taken every objective ordered of them, although at the cost of 24,000 casualties.It was at this time that Currie lost favour with former friends Sam and Garnet Hughes. Sam Hughes wanted Garnet promoted to command of a division, but Currie, having seen Garnet in action at the Second Battle of Ypres, believed Garnet to be an incompetent officer, and refused. By this time, Currie's reputation was on the rise, and Hughes did not have the necessary leverage to force Currie to comply. From that point until his death in 1921, Hughes began a personal vendetta, using his seat in the House of Commons to verbally attack Currie and his record, although he was careful never to repeat his words outside the House, where he was not protected by parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
.
Vimy Ridge
By late 1916, four Canadian divisions were in France, gathered together as the Canadian Corps under the command of Sir Julian Byng. The British High Command informed Byng that the Canadians would have a central role in the upcoming spring offensive at ArrasArras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
.
Near the French villages of Vimy
Vimy
Vimy is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography and history:Vimy is a farming town, situated some north of Arras, at the junction of the D51 and the N17 roads....
and Petit-Vimy, a high chalk ridge dominated the flat Douai Plain. When the war had bogged down in 1914, the Germans had driven the French from the ridge, and had strongly fortified it. Offensives by both the French and British had failed to dislodge the Germans from the high ground. Now as part of a major British operation in April designed to achieve a breakthrough at Arras, the Canadians were expected to do the impossible—take the ridge in just eight hours.
Both Byng and Currie were firm advocates of analysis and preparation. Byng first ordered Currie to examine the Battle of the Somme and advise what lessons could be taken and applied. Next, Byng sent Currie to Verdun to interview French officers about the grinding battle that had taken place there
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
. Currie not only questioned senior French officers, he then sought out junior officers and asked the same questions, carefully noting the discrepancies between the senior officers' beliefs and the junior officers' experiences. On 20 January 1917, Currie began a series of lectures to the generals of the Canadian Corps based on his research, and he set out what he believed would be the keys to the battle:
- overwhelming artillery on a narrow front to soften up the German lines and destroy barbed wire;
- the creeping barrage, a tactic used ineffectively for several years, had to be perfected;
- every soldier had to be trained in exactly what to do and where to go so that he could take command of his platoon in case his non-commissioned officerNon-commissioned officerA non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s were killed; - counter-battery operations—the tactic of spotting and silencing enemy artillery—must also be perfected;
- the soldiers must be allowed to get as close as possible to the enemy lines before the start of the actual assault.
Training of the Canadian soldiers started immediately. As Currie had dictated, every soldier was shown maps of the battlefield, was told his platoon's objectives, and was given a small map of his part of the battlefield. Distances from Allied to German trenches were carefully taped out on practice battlefields, and the soldiers endlessly rehearsed the slow walk that would keep them only paces behind the creeping barrage.
Tunnels were dug into the soft chalk so that Canadian soldiers could move as close to the German lines as possible before the actual assault. In addition, ammonal
Ammonal
Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene , and aluminium powder.The ammonium nitrate functions as an oxidizer and aluminium as a power enhancer. To some extent the aluminium makes it more sensitive to detonation...
mines were set under German strongpoints. Canadian engineers laid 45 miles (72.4 km) of water pipes, 20 miles (32.2 km) of railway track, 3 miles (4.8 km) of plank road
Plank road
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century...
, and they also maintained and repaired 25 miles (40.2 km) of local roads, which had been shelled heavily by the Germans during previous battles. In addition, the corps signallers buried 21 miles (33.8 km) of telephone cable and laid another 66 miles (106.2 km) of surface cable.
The counter-battery operations were going to be essential to the success of the attack. Currie and Byng had their eye upon the youngest brigade commander in France, 29-year-old Andy McNaughton. McNaughton was an unconventional soldier, raised in Canada's western frontier, and not afraid to apply new scientific methods to conventional knowledge about artillery. Placed in charge of counter-battery operations, McNaughton took the opportunity to try new techniques such as flash-spotting and sound-ranging. The results were unprecedented: Allied artillery destroyed 83% of the German guns before the battle started.
At 5:30 a.m. on 9 April (Easter Monday), the largest artillery barrage of the war to date began. Thirty thousand Canadian soldiers climbed out of trenches and tunnels in the middle of a snowstorm to slowly walk behind a curtain of artillery shells that destroyed everything in its path. German soldiers were captured while still in their bomb-proof dugouts. Primary, then secondary and tertiary trenches were rapidly taken. By 12:30 p.m., Canadian soldiers stood on top of Vimy Ridge. By the end of 12 April, the ridge was completely in Canadian hands, at a cost of 12,004 casualties, including 3978 killed.
Although the overall Battle of Arras
Battle of Arras (1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
was a failure—British regiments on the Canadians' right flank failed to reach their objectives, making a breakthrough impossible—the four Canadian divisions had worked as one unit to score a nation-building victory. Currie was recognized as the architect of this triumph, and was knighted by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
with his appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the King's Birthday Honours of 4 June 1917. When Byng was promoted to general
General (Canada)
The military rank of General in Canada is typically held by only one officer whose position is Chief of the Defence Staff and the senior uniformed officer of the Canadian Forces. The rank is referred to as 'four-star', despite the use of maple leaves in the insignia. It is the equivalent of the...
in command of the British Third Army in mid-1917, Currie was raised to the temporary rank of lieutenant-general on 9 June, and given command of the entire Canadian Corps.
Just as he was taking command of the Corps, word reached Currie that news of his embezzlement had reached the Canadian cabinet, and in order to avoid news of the scandal from breaking, Currie borrowed money from two wealthy subordinates, David Watson
David Watson (general)
Major General Sir David Watson, was a Canadian journalist, newspaper owner, and general.Born in Quebec City, Quebec, the son of William Watson and Jane Grant, Watson was a journalist with the Quebec Morning Chronicle...
and Victor Odlum
Victor Odlum
Victor Wentworth Odlum, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. was a Canadian journalist, soldier, and diplomat. He was a prominent member of the business and political elite of Vancouver, British Columbia from the 1920s until his death in 1971...
, to finally pay back the money he had "borrowed" from the 50th Regiment.
Hill 70
The British High Command needed a diversion to take German attention away from their preparations for the Third Battle of Ypres. Currie's first objective upon assuming command of the Canadian Corps was to take the city of Lens, which was strategically important to the Germans due to its nexus of rail lines. After examining the area, Currie instead proposed to take the high ground outside the city (marked on Allied maps as Hill 70). The Germans would be forced to counterattack to retake the high ground or lose operational control of the city. During their counterattacks, the Germans would have to cross killing grounds in front of the Canadian lines, enabling the Canadians to inflict enormous casualties. Sir Douglas Haig finally approved the change in plan, but predicted the Canadian assault on Hill 70 would fail. It was not an idle comment, since Hill 70 was defended by pillboxes with overlapping fields of fire, deep dugouts and trenches fronted by coils of barbed wire.Currie insisted on the same level of preparations as had been used at Vimy Ridge. Once again, the men studied maps of their objectives, and practiced on fields marked with tape that indicated trench lines, and a complex artillery barrage was planned. At 4:25 a.m. on 15 August 1917, after several hours of precise artillery fire to destroy barbed wire and plaster the German trenches, men of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions went over the top. (The 3rd Division was held in reserve.) Walking slowly behind a creeping barrage, the Canadians took the hill in a mere twenty minutes and immediately began to dig in. As Currie had predicted, the Germans realized that they could not remain in Lens with the Canadians occupying Hill 70, and the first counterattack took place by 9:00 a.m. Over the next three days, the Canadians repulsed 21 German counterattacks, which saw the Germans use both mustard gas and flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
s. By 18 August, the Canadians were low on rations, water and ammunition, but the Germans, having suffered thousands of casualties trying to retake the hill, were unwilling to expend more resources. Although the city of Lens itself was not taken, German operations inside the city were compromised as Currie had predicted, and the city lost its strategic importance.
Passchendaele
The Third Battle of Ypres, known to history as Passchendaele, was Sir Douglas Haig's attempt in the summer of 1917 to break through the German lines. His objective was to take the village of Passchendaele, which lay just behind a long ridge overlooking the Ypres Salient. From there, Haig envisioned a quick march to the Belgian ports in order to stop submarine depredations in the English Channel. However, the preliminary bombardment of the low ground in front of the ridge destroyed canals and ditches that drained the fields, and an unusually heavy rain the night before the first assault turned the low ground into a quagmire. The attack quickly stalled. At the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, the British line moved forward a few hundred feet during the summer months. Anzac troops finally took the ridge, but the attack again stalled as the the Anzacs were bled white. Haig turned to the Canadian Corps for the final push.All autumn, unseasonably hard rains had fallen, turning the battlefield into a vast sea of liquid mud. Wooden duckboards
Duckboards
A Duckboard is a platform made of wooden slats built over muddy ground to form a dry passageway.-Hiking:Duckboards are used to allow Hikers to safely pass moist areas of ground, such as a swamp or shores of a lake. Specially wide duckboards are often used to provide wheelchair access...
were the only way to traverse the ground, and soldiers who slipped off often drowned. The Germans were by that time using a more flexible defense, including dozens of pillboxes made of reinforced concrete that were set up to enfilade. Able to withstand direct hits from artillery and hard to pick out in the drab brown landscape of mud, these had to be found and attacked at close range by flamethrowers or Mills bomb
Mills bomb
Mills bomb is the popular name for a series of prominent British hand grenades. They were the first modern fragmentation grenades in the world.-Overview:...
s. Attacking one pillbox inevitably drew deadly machine gun fire from two or three others. After examining the battlefield, Currie protested, saying that the village could only be taken at a cost of 16,000 Canadian casualties, and was not strategically significant. However, Haig overrode his objections and ordered an attack.
Currie insisted on time to prepare, and it was not until 20 October that the Canadian offensive began. Rather than one battle, Currie designed a series of well-prepared, sharp attacks that allowed the Corps to take an objective and then hold it against the inevitable German counterattacks. By 30 October, the Canadians, aided by two British divisions, gained the outskirts of the village in a driving rainstorm, and then held on for five days against intense shelling and counterattacks, often standing waist deep in mud as they fought.
The Germans withdrew from the battle on 11 November 1917, but Haig's breakthrough never materialized. The German doctrine of "defence in depth
Defence in depth
Defence in depth is a military strategy; it seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of an attacker, buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space...
" meant that there was always another set of trenches waiting for them to fall back to. The Canadians' Pyrrhic victory
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
came at the cost of 15,654 casualties, including 4,028 killed. Currie's grim prediction had been accurate.
Hundred Days Offensive
In the spring of 1918, the Germans launched a major Spring OffensiveSpring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
, but by the summer, it had been contained, and it was the turn of the Allies to counterattack. German intelligence always kept a close watch on the whereabouts of the Canadian Corps since their move to a new sector usually indicated an imminent attack. Therefore, in August 1918, when Currie was ordered to move the Corps 70 miles (112.7 km) south to Amiens to join the Australians under General John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
, the Canadians took pains to camouflage their move. This included sending a radio unit and two battalions to Ypres as a diversion. With no preliminary artillery bombardment to warn the Germans, the attack on 8 August was a complete surprise. Currie's usual careful planning paid off as the Canadians and Australians opened up an enormous hole in the German lines and advanced 11 miles (17.7 km) on the first day, although suffering enormous casualties. After three days of continued Allied advances, the Germans abandoned their lines at Amiens and fell back to their prepared defences on the Hindenburg Line
Hindenburg Line
The Hindenburg Line was a vast system of defences in northeastern France during World War I. It was constructed by the Germans during the winter of 1916–17. The line stretched from Lens to beyond Verdun...
.
The Canadians were withdrawn from the line, and moved to the Somme, where they next attacked the Hindenburg Line at the powerful Drocourt-Quéant Line on 2 September. The Corps smashed a hole in the "invulnerable" line, forcing the Germans to fall back behind the flooded Canal du Nord
Canal du Nord
The Canal du Nord is a long canal in northern France. The canal connects the Canal latéral à l'Oise at Pont-l'Évêque to the Sensée Canal at Arleux. The French government, in partnership with coal-mining companies in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments, developed the canal to help French coal...
.
Currie took three weeks to prepare for the next attack. In what was perhaps Currie's most audacious plan, he proposed to have the entire Corps cross a dry part of the canal using bridges that would have to be built by engineers while under fire. Currie's superiors refused to approve the plan, but finally Douglas Haig gave his assent. On 27 September, covered by the most massive artillery bombardment of the war, the entire Corps moved across the canal as planned, and then through the German lines in a series of planned zig-zag maneuvers designed to confuse the Germans as to the Canadians' objectives. The Canadians broke through three German lines and as a bonus, also took Bourlon Woods. Forced out of the Hindenburg Line, the German army now staged a controlled retreat.
Currie was next given the task of taking Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
, which the Canadian Corps achieved on 11 October. Further action at Valenciennes
Valenciennes
Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
and Mont Houy denied the Germans any chance to dig in and reinforce their defences in the face of the determined Canadians.
On 10 November, in what was to be his most controversial decision, Currie, under orders to continue to advance, ordered elements of the Corps to liberate Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
, although there were rumours that an armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
would be signed the next day. On the morning of 11 November, as Currie received orders that confirmed there would be a general armistice at 11:00:00 a.m., the capture of Mons was completed. At 10:58 a.m., George Lawrence Price
George Lawrence Price
Private George Lawrence Price was a Canadian soldier. He is traditionally recognized as the last soldier of the British Empire to be killed during the First World War....
was killed by sniper fire, the last Canadian, and possibly the last Allied soldier, to die in the Great War. Two minutes later, the war ended. The liberation of Mons on 10–11 November cost the Corps 280 casualties, although Price was the only Canadian to be killed on the last day of the war.
In later years, Currie defended his decision to attack Mons by pointing out that not only was he under orders to continue to advance, but that during the last two weeks of the war, rumours of an imminent armistice had proven to be false several times. In addition, even when the exact hour of the cease-fire was announced early on the morning of 11 November, the terms of the proposed armistice were unknown; many Allied commanders continued to press forward and German commanders continued to defend tenaciously because they believed that post-war boundaries would be drawn where the armies stood when the armistice was declared.
Commander-in-Chief?
After the war, British Prime Minister David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
claimed that he wanted to promote Currie to commander-in-chief of all British and Empire forces on the Western Front in place of Sir Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
. On other occasions, similar claims have been made about Currie's Australian counterpart, General John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
. However, this claim is not taken seriously by historians. For example, Robin Neillands praises Currie and Monash highly (subject to the caveat that they commanded nationally-homogenous forces, rather than having units constantly shuffled in and out throughout the war like other corps), but points out that each man had only commanded a handful of divisions. Neillands dismisses the claim as "a myth ... without foundation except in Lloyd George's memoirs".
Occupation of Germany
The 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Corps were made part of the Army of Occupation, and in December 1918, Currie took the salute as the Canadians crossed over the Rhine into Germany.Honours
Currie was Mentioned in Despatches nine times. In addition to being named a Companion of the Order of the Bath after the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, and his appointment as KCMG in 1917, Currie was also promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1918 New Year HonoursNew Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...
, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1919 New Year Honours, and also received the French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
(with Palm), the Belgian Croix de guerre and the Order of the Crown
Order of the Crown (Belgium)
The Order of the Crown is an Order of Belgium which was created on 15 October 1897 by King Leopold II in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State. The order was first intended to recognize heroic deeds and distinguished service achieved from service in the Congo Free State - many of which acts...
, and the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
.
Upon returning to Canada, Currie was promoted to general
General (Canada)
The military rank of General in Canada is typically held by only one officer whose position is Chief of the Defence Staff and the senior uniformed officer of the Canadian Forces. The rank is referred to as 'four-star', despite the use of maple leaves in the insignia. It is the equivalent of the...
, the first Canadian to hold that rank, and was made Inspector-General of the Canadian Army.
Although he only held a high school diploma, Currie was offered the position of Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in Montreal, at the time the most prestigious university in Canada. He held this post with distinction from 1920 until his death in 1933.
Honorary degrees were conferred on Currie by many British and American universities, and he became a trustee of the Carnegie Foundation.
Libel suit
During the war, Currie had continued to deny Garnet Hughes a combat post, believing Hughes would be a danger to the men in his command when under fire. Although Hughes attained the rank of brigadier-general by 1918, he ended the war in an obscure administrative posting in London. Garnet's father, Sir Sam Hughes, was removed from the cabinet in 1916, but he continued to use his seat in the House of Commons to attack Currie's reputation. After Sam Hughes died in 1921, Garnet Hughes did the same through newspapers owned by his family.In June 1927, the city of Mons erected a plaque commemorating their liberation by the Canadian Corps; as this event was reported in Canadian newspapers, Currie's enemies took the opportunity to again question the final day of fighting. The Hughes-controlled Port Hope
Port Hope, Ontario
Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County...
Evening Guide, in a front-page editorial, wrote "It is doubtful whether in any case there was a more deliberate and useless waste of human life than in the so-called capture of Mons..." Currie sued the newspaper for libel, seeking $50,000 in damages. At the trial, Currie testified that he had been under orders from Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
to pursue German forces; to do otherwise would have been treason. Many of Currie's senior officers testified that Currie urged them to advance with caution, avoiding unnecessary casualties. At the end of the trial, the jury returned a verdict after four hours, finding the newspaper guilty, and awarding Currie $500 in damages. One member of the jury, a former serviceman, dissented.
After the trial, Currie was invited to a dinner in Port Hope by some of the men who had served under him. With tears in his eyes, Currie read a telegram he had received the day before from the father of George Price: "As father of George Lawrence Price, the only Canadian killed on Armistice Day, I wish to convey to you, Sir, my humble hope that you will succeed in bringing to justice those responsible for bringing this case before the public, because all of this simply renews old wounds that are best forgotten."
Death
The strain of decades of personal attacks took their toll, and General Currie died a few days after the 15th anniversary of the Armistice, at the relatively young age of 58. He was survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote of his funeral: "It was, by common consent, the most impressive funeral ever seen at Montreal". Those attending included Lord Bessborough
Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough
Captain Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough was a British businessman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 14th since Canadian Confederation....
, at the time the Governor-General of Canada; important politicians from both Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
; foreign diplomats; and representatives of McGill University. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Montreal
Bishop of Montreal
Bishop of Montreal may refer to:* the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Montreal* the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Montreal...
, and other clergy including the former chaplain of the Canadian Corps. Eight general officers acted as pallbearers, and many other soldiers, both serving and veterans, were in attendance. The funeral procession received a 17-gun salute. Currie was interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery
Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165-acre terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The burial ground shares the mountain with the much larger adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery -- Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges...
in Montreal, Quebec.
Legacy
Pierre Berton
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, was a noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist....
and Jack Granatstein
Jack Granatstein
Jack Lawrence Granatstein, OC, FRSC is a Canadian historian who specializes in political and military history.-Education:Born in Toronto, Ontario, Granatstein received a graduation diploma from Le College militaire royal de Saint-Jean in 1959, his BA from the Royal Military College of Canada in...
, have described Currie as Canada's greatest military commander. Although physically a large man, standing over six feet tall, Currie did not cut a heroic military figure. Nor was he a charismatic speaker. Described as aloof by his troops, who called him "Guts and Gaiters," he nevertheless inspired them. He was a brilliant tactician who used his skills to reduce casualties and is credited with accelerating the end of the war. According to historian Jack Hyatt, "His slogan was, 'Pay the price of victory in shells—not lives,' and if he did anything heroic it was that."
Tributes and remembrances
- In 1919, General Currie Elementary SchoolGeneral Currie Elementary SchoolGeneral Currie Elementary School is located at 8220 General Currie Road, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The school is named after General Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadian World War I commander in the Battle of Vimy Ridge....
was built in Richmond, BCRichmond, British ColumbiaRichmond is a coastal city, incorporated in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Part of Metro Vancouver, its neighbouring communities are Vancouver and Burnaby to the north, New Westminster to the east, and Delta to the south, while the Strait of Georgia forms its western border...
. - At the National Field of Honour, a war cemetery in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, the main roundabout is named Currie Circle, and within it stands The Cross of Remembrance. Currie was President of the Last Post Fund from 1924 to 1932, and now Last Post Officials are buried around the cross in Currie Circle.
- The Currie Barracks in Calgary, which opened in 1933, the year of his death, were named in his honour.
- In 1934, the year after his death, Currie was designated as a National Historic Person of Canada. A plaque for this was commemorated in 1938.
- The Currie Building and Currie HallCurrie HallCurrie Hall, is a hall within the Currie Building, which is an annex to the Mackenzie Building at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario...
at the Royal Military College of CanadaRoyal Military College of CanadaThe Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...
in Kingston, OntarioKingston, OntarioKingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
were subsequently named in his honour. Currie's family coat of arms was carved into the limestone outside the Currie Building. - At the University of VictoriaUniversity of VictoriaThe University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
, an on-campus housing building is named Sir Arthur Currie. - In the Officer's Mess of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, the favourite chair of Sir Arthur Currie is reserved for the Commanding Officer of the Regiment.
- In his hometown of StrathroyStrathroy-Caradoc, OntarioStrathroy-Caradoc is a municipality located just west of London, Ontario, Canada. It was created through the merger of the former township of Caradoc and the town of Strathroy in 2001. Its two largest settlements are Strathroy and Mount Brydges....
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
the local branch of the Royal Canadian LegionRoyal Canadian LegionThe Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization founded in 1925, with more than 400,000 members worldwide. Membership includes people who have served as current and former military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, direct relatives of...
bears his name, and a committee has been formed to raise a statue to him. - At McGill UniversityMcGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, his legacy is the Currie Gymnasium and the Montreal Neurological InstituteMontreal Neurological InstituteThe Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital is an academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience research, training and clinical care. The Institute is part of McGill University and the Hospital is one of the five teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal,...
under Wilder PenfieldWilder PenfieldWilder Graves Penfield, OM, CC, CMG, FRS was an American born Canadian neurosurgeon. During his life he was called "the greatest living Canadian"...
. - A history room at his old high school, Strathroy District Collegiate InstituteStrathroy District Collegiate InstituteStrathroy District Collegiate Institute is one of two secondary schools in Strathroy, Ontario. It is a public high school in the Thames Valley District School Board. The school services feeder schools in the Strathroy area, as well as the outer regions such as Mt. Brydges, Parkhill, Kerwood,...
, has been named in his honour. - The street in Victoria where he lived before the Great War was renamed Arthur Currie Lane.
- Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, in his science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel Starship TroopersStarship TroopersStarship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...
, named a Mobile InfantryMobile Infantry (Starship Troopers)The Mobile Infantry is a fictional military force in Robert A. Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers and in the movies Starship Troopers, released in 1997, the 2004 sequel, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, the 2008 film Starship Troopers 3: Marauder and the TV series Roughnecks: Starship...
basic training facility "Camp Arthur Currie". - In 2006, Canada honoured Currie as one of fourteen Canadian heroes at the Valiants Memorial, and he was one of five people remembered with a life-sized statue.
- The General Sir Arthur Currie Memorial Project is currently trying to raise enough funds to erect a statue of Currie in his hometown of Strathroy.
- Cape Currie in the Northwest TerritoriesNorthwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
commemorates Sir Arthur William Currie (b.1875-d.1933), Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Corps in Flanders 1917-1918. lat 714700 long 1243145
Arthur Currie donated a statue and war memorial to the city of Saint-Lambert
Saint-Lambert, Quebec
Saint-Lambert is a Canadian city in the province of Quebec located opposite Montreal on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Saint-Lambert was named for either the early French Canadian hunter Lambert Closse or for Roman Catholic Bishop Lambert of Maastricht...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
Quotations
Currie wrote that the "spirit" of the Royal Military College of CanadaRoyal Military College of Canada
The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...
's graduates, "no less than their military attainments, exercised a potent influence in fashioning a force which, in fighting efficiency, has never been excelled." Currie was a staunch believer in rigorous training as said in the following quote, "Thorough preparation must lead to success. Neglect nothing."
Special orders
Currie utilised special orders to try to get positive publicity for the Canadian Corps, while it was being successful in the Hundred Days' Offensive. This was because the London press had ignored the Canadian contribution in their articles, but they had produced their casualty lists, and the Canadian papers simply republished the London articles, which caused thoughts that the casualties were unnecessarily heavy. In addition, Currie had also issued a special order to console himself when the Canadian Corps was being split up to help defend against the German Spring Offensive. In addition, the special order quoted below also inspired Douglas HaigDouglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig was a British soldier and senior commander during World War I.Douglas Haig may also refer to:* Club Atlético Douglas Haig, a football club from Argentina* Douglas Haig , American actor...
to write his own order to try and inspire the troops.
"To those who fall I say; you will not die but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate, but will be proud to have bourne such sons. Your names will be revered for ever and ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto himself. Canadians, in this fateful hour, I command you and I trust you to fight as you have ever fought with all your strength, with all your determination, with all your tranquil courage. On many a hard fought field of battle you have overcome this enemy. With God's help you shall achieve victory once more."
External links
- Arthur Currie at The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
- First World War.com
- Arthur Currie (Archived 2009-10-31) at Microsoft Encarta